Last week, right-wing character assassins in the corporate and social media universes mounted an unprecedented attack on hunger-striking Chief Theresa Spence, spreading malicious allegations financial management of her northern Ontario First Nation reserve of Attawapiskat. Over the weekend, progressive and Idle No More activists took to Twitter to respond to the racism-inspired attacks, and the hypocrisy of the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper on First Nations issues.

Aaron Paquette, an Edmonton-based Idle No More activist, created the Twitter hashtag “Ottawapiskat”. Basically, the guy imagined how the world might view and discuss Ottawa if it was a reserve. “#Ottawapiskat is a word that popped in my head last night as I was painting. I literally laughed out loud and had to share it,” he said later on Twitter.

By Sunday evening #Ottawapiskat was trending only behind the Golden Globes. Then it caught the attention of social media-savvy Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, and internationally acclaimed Canadian author and social activist, Naomi Klein. In the last few hours, the hashtag has become the springboard for commentary on key political issues, including the Harper government’s draconian cuts to essential services, questionable spending, the Conservative majority, federal debt, unelected Senate and alleged election fraud during the May 2011 federal election.

These are the best of the best:

#Ottawapiskat debt hovering around $600,000,000,000. Might be time for a third-party manager.